NEWS, VIEWS AND EVENTS - keep up to date with the latest news from Holstein UK

T

his Journal always fol- lows on very quickly

from the October issue as we have breeders who wish to advertise before the Black & White Sale, which is coming up in early December. Yet we have had plenty happening, perhaps the most notable event being the British show-

Members are reminded that fertility indexes for proven sires are available online. They are published as part of the individual sires’ fact sheets on the Holstein UK website. Go to www.holstein-uk.org and then select ‘Animal Data’ from the menu on the top of the page, then go to ‘Holstein or Friesian Search’.

FEATURES FOR 2011 JOURNALS

We have the list of features that we plan to run in next year’s Journals. They are:

February April June

August October

December

UK cow families Herd health Red & Whites

Management systems

Holsteins around the world Promotion and marketing

We are also planning a new Club focus in each issue - there are more details on page 59. The Clubs that will feature in 2011 are:

February April June

August October

December

Border & Lakeland Central Counties Cornwall

Derbyshire Devon

East Midlands DUAL REGISTRATION

Members who wish to dual register a foreign animal with Holstein UK need to send in a copy of the animal’s export certificate to Membership Services. Please send in a copy of the certificate, not the original, with a note of your name and prefix. The animal will be dual registered and the member will be sent a Holstein UK certificate for the foreign animal. The cost of dual registra- tion is £16.50 + VAT per foreign registration.

ing at the All-European Show at Cremona in Italy. Breed Executive John Gribbon was given the honour of judging both the Black & White and Red & White classes, becoming the first person to do so. See pages 10-11 for details. But there was more good news from Cremona. Holstein UK sent Izzy Whittaker and Lucy Jones to represent HUK in the first European Young Breeders Showmanship contest. Both girls were perfect ambassadors for HYB and did us all proud in their respective sections. Lucy won the Junior handling class, while Izzy won the Senior and then Overall Championship titles. Read more on pages 80-83. Before all this, the North Eastern Club hosted a wonderful Holstein Celebration in near perfect autumnal weather. As part of the process, the Holstein UK AGM voted Bernard Liddle of Dalesend fame as our President for 2011. Bernard and wife Marnie have already visited a number of Club func- tions around the country and I know they look for- ward to meeting as many of our members as possible during the year. We’ve also had one of my favourite events of the

year, the All Breeds All Britain Calf Show. I say this every year, but the level of enthusiasm and skill on display from our young members is uplifting to see and deserves a bigger audience, and I make no apologies for repeating this statement. It was a great weekend for the Scotland South Club, as they won the majority of classes, but there were strong perfor- mances from a number of other clubs and individuals as well. Read all about the event starting on page 84. In this issue, we start a series of articles on genomics and the impact they will have on the UK cattle breeding scene. Our Research Executive Lucy Andrews has put together an article aimed at debunking some of the myths that are already in cir- culation and explaining exactly what the testing can achieve and how we are going to deal with it here in the UK. I urge you all to read the first chapter of her series, starting on page 24. Coming up in our next issue, February 2011 which

will feature UK cow families, we are starting a new feature focussing on one Club, starting with Border & Lakeland, We’ll feature a herd and some of the activities the Club are involved with as well as offer- ing members a special rate to advertise. It may take a few issues, but we’ll be coming to your area soon! Finally, I’m delighted to welcome Annabelle Doig to the department. She will be helping with the Journal and the Holstein UK website.